Tips on how to become a Freelance Digital Marketer

Freelancing is a lifestyle anyone can adopt at any point in their life. It can be an 18-year-old at the start of their career or a 40-year-old mechanical engineer. It can be anyone from anywhere. Ever thought about becoming a freelance digital marketer?

Questioning your career is normal, we are constantly looking for something better. Digital marketing jobs are on the rise making freelance digital marketing a great career option. 

What is a Freelance Digital Marketer?

A freelance digital marketer is a name given to professionals who offers freelancing services to clients. They usually work from home and help companies and clients with various digital marketing-related tasks. As a freelance digital marketer, you have to assist clients to sell their products and services online. 

Your job would be to contact your target audience, direct them to their website and convert them into paying clients.

The category is broad, it covers all types of marketing that are common today. The most common activities include.

• Creating advertisements
• Designing visuals
• Holding webinars or running podcasts
• Managing social media accounts and communities
• Writing copy for blogs, web pages, and social media
• Developing a campaign and marketing strategy for clients 
• Creating and editing videos
• Emailing client’s customers and managing an email marketing campaign
• Onboarding new clients and managing client meetings
• Optimizing client websites for search engines (SEO)

What are the pros and cons of a Freelance Digital Marketer?

Freelance digital marketers have many choices and specific areas of expertise they can pursue within their line of work. It’s a good idea to consider the pros and cons of joining this field as an independent professional

Pros

• The ability to work from anywhere or change locations at anytime
• You can choose the work you want. You have access to many different digital marketing clients with their own needs
• Work the hours you want as long as you hit deadlines
• You can rely on other freelancers as needed for help or expertise
• Use the equipment and tools you have and prefer

Cons

• Invoicing, client management, social and your advertising still need to happen, but you can’t bill for their hours
• You only get paid for what you do
• Paid time off, insurance, and other benefits must be paid entirely by you.
• Some find the ongoing hunt for clients stressful

Being a freelancer can be a challenge. Thankfully, there are opportunities to partner with others in your community. Local and online groups, forums, and organizations can all help you to tackle the challenges that you face. It is certainly a lot of work, that can overwhelming at times, as you’ll see below with the right approach you can build the required skills and mindset to handle all your job responsibilities in a professional manner.

How to become a Freelance Digital Marketer

Take a course to study what’s new

There are many courses available. Some from small digital marketers and freelancers themselves. Look for classes that can teach you about different options and show when they last updated their materials. You need to be taught the latest version to understand how it works.

Determine your skills

After you study and learn about many different tasks within digital marketing, try them out. Find out in what you excel. Ask colleagues and teachers to look at what you’ve created, see where you did well. Create a list of skills others praised and create a separate list of tasks and skills you’ve enjoyed. When certain skills overlap both categories highlight them and add them to a list of services you can offer.

Build your website

A great way to get started is by building your website. This could be an online portfolio. You can house your content writing and demonstrate good SEO practices by optimizing your website. Your website is the main focus of your business. It is where you can display your achievements, describe your services and it’s the medium for clients to come in contact with you.

Start a digital marketing blog

Publish content that will help your potential clients understand how you can assist them with digital marketing. Blogging is something you need to do from day one even before taking clients. Content is a very powerful way to get new clients without having to sell yourself or your services.

Follow blogs that focus on your specialty

Digital marketing practices change regularly. It is important to stay up to date with the newest trends. Blogs have become areas to showcase expertise and discuss the latest trends. Read blogs to stay on top of changes and discover new opportunities.

Find expert help for ongoing support

Freelancers often can’t get on-the-job training. However, you can find many mentors online. Groups on LinkedIn that focus on digital marketing, forums, Reddit are willing to help beginners learn the ropes and avoid mistakes. A broad community can help you find the right answers and who can address the issue and keep your business in good standing.

Find Beginner – Friendly jobs

There are several different places you can look to get started.

Facebook groups

Some communities help fellow freelancers and provide information related to potential work.

Social Media

Post on LinkedIn about your services. Make sure it states in your bio that you’re a freelance digital marketer. Social media is a powerful tool for connecting with prospective clients and getting the word out.

Freelance Digital Marketer Portfolio

Create your freelance portfolio and profile to say who you are and describe your services. Tell a story about your skills and work experience. If you do not have any work experience, use things created for school and online courses or build from scratch and display your capabilities. Services like Upwork can make this process easier because you’ve got a portfolio template to follow. You can look at other marketers to see how they explain skills and offers. Keep in mind freelance sites do charge significant fees and commissions, use them with caution.

Have Flexible rates

Don’t undersell yourself and your work when reaching out to clients but make sure to negotiate, especially when starting. The next task in your journey to becoming a freelance digital marketer is to decide on your pricing model and set your prices.

There are different ways to structure your pricing model

• Per project
• Per hour
• Per month

Clients have different needs, they’ll expect you to have some flexibility with your pricing model and rates.

Network to build a client base

The task of networking and finding clients may feel overwhelming and daunting. Below are a few tips to get started.

Start with people you know

You may get some work from them directly or they may give you referrals for potential clients.

Market yourself on social media

LinkedIn has the largest professional network, it’s great for making connections, building relationships, and making way for job opportunities.

LinkedIn Profinder is a paid service where freelancers can find work and businesses can find contractors. Members receive notifications about job opportunities and can submit proposals for work.

Try cold emailing or cold pitching

It’s one of the most traditional methods freelancers use to find work, it’s still relevant today.

Operate like a business

You are your own business- treat yourself like one.

It’s a more sustainable mindset than thinking of yourself as solely a freelance digital marketer. Having a growth mindset will prevent you from losing hope early on instead keep growing and keep you excited about the freelance digital marketing business.

Start your freelancing career

No successful marketing professional reached their peak overnight. It takes time to build your business and to get your freelance career off the ground. Never stop learning and experimenting. Digital marketing is an exciting industry to be in. You’ll need drive and ambition, give yourself room to understand digital marketing trends, and explore what’s out there.

Try the tips above to get your career off to the right start.

Freelancing is a lifestyle anyone can adopt at any point in their life. It can be an 18-year-old at the start of their career or a 40-year-old mechanical engineer. It can be anyone from anywhere. Ever thought about becoming a freelance digital marketer? Questioning your career is normal, we are constantly looking for something better. Digital…

Freelancing is a lifestyle anyone can adopt at any point in their life. It can be an 18-year-old at the start of their career or a 40-year-old mechanical engineer. It can be anyone from anywhere. Ever thought about becoming a freelance digital marketer? Questioning your career is normal, we are constantly looking for something better. Digital…